As I make my return to reviewing comics from the bigger publishers (don’t worry indies – I will NEVER forget about you!!!), I have to just start buying issues to try and figure out what I like or dislike in today’s market. Green Lantern has long been a favorite of mine and writer Robert Venditti can do no wrong in my book. Venditti could probably write a 12 issue comic series on a calculus textbook and I’d be enthralled. So picking up Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #37 is pretty much a no-brainer.

The solicit for the issue told me: General Zod, the Kryptonian supervillain, seizes control of a small planet, drawing the attention of Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps. Whatever. It can be Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner baking cookies and I’d be in. So lets delve in.

The book has Jordan and Rayner landing on the planet now ruled by Zod. Zod is joined by that Superman-poser The Eradicator, and Zod’s wife & son. Good for you, Zod! Bad guys need loving too. Even Hitler had a girlfriend! Jordan and Rayner seem scared of the Superman foe and for good reason. They use their power rings on Zod. They should have just gotten rings out of a Cracker Jack box because those might have been more effective then their GL rings.

We cut away from the action to John Stewart who is talking to those blue Green Lantern Guardian guys. John Stewart wants out. He’s done with the Green Lantern Corps. It’s the old cliche, right? “I’m tired of it. I don’t want to do it anymore. Etc. Etc.” Look John – you should realize that whether you are in a comic or not, quitting the hero game isn’t that easy. It takes about a 30 second pep talk by the Guardians to convince Stewart that it’s the wrong thing to do. Hey John – if you don’t want to the ring swing it on over to me.

Then it is right back to the action of which there is a lot of. The battle between Rayner, Jordan, and Zod is pretty vicious and I was really surprised and shocked how badass Zod is. I mean he is a Kryptonian villian so of course he’s no wimp. But as the fight goes on the reader starts to wonder if two Lanterns are enough to stop him. You wonder if five are enough to stop him. Ten? Twenty? A hundred? I then start to wonder if even Superman has what it takes.

If you are looking for a comic jammed packed with action then this latest issue of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps is for you. As this is my very first issue of the series I didn’t feel lost at all. I actually thought this was a wonderful jump on point so if you love Green Lantern but haven’t picked the series up yet, HJGLC #37 is a terrific place to start. Seeing all these GL’s together like Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, and John Stewart just warms my heart. Reminds me of the good ol’ days of the eighties and nineties.

I really don’t have more to say. This issue gives me exactly what I want. No over-complicated plot where I feel I had to read the last 36 issues to get what was going on. No wussy bad guy that the GL’s defeat after two pages. I get a bunch of my favorite Lanterns all in one book. Lastly I get Zod! He didn’t tell Hal to “KNEEL!” but hey, there’s always next issue.